diff --git a/SOURCES/0002-fileio-backstore-fix-sparse-file-creation.patch b/SOURCES/0002-fileio-backstore-fix-sparse-file-creation.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49951f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SOURCES/0002-fileio-backstore-fix-sparse-file-creation.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+From 3176671662bda79d4b4059b8cc22b4b31a6547e0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Maurizio Lombardi <mlombard@redhat.com>
+Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2020 11:44:40 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] fileio backstore: fix sparse file creation
+
+fallocate() can't be used to create sparse files because it
+actually preallocates all the disk space that will be used by the file
+backstore, sparse files do not have preallocated disk space
+by definition.
+We must therefore use ftruncate().
+
+We can, on the other hand, use fallocate() to create non-sparse
+files and fall back to the slower "while() fwrite()" if we
+are running on Python version < 3.3 where fallocate() is not available
+
+Fixes 3bd4d8ef7c9b154c53e8b8dd863a570bce7f5c2c
+
+Signed-off-by: Maurizio Lombardi <mlombard@redhat.com>
+---
+ targetcli/ui_backstore.py | 16 ++++++++--------
+ 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/targetcli/ui_backstore.py b/targetcli/ui_backstore.py
+index 8692f22..9bc0c58 100644
+--- a/targetcli/ui_backstore.py
++++ b/targetcli/ui_backstore.py
+@@ -423,17 +423,17 @@ class UIFileIOBackstore(UIBackstore):
+             raise ExecutionError("Could not open %s" % filename)
+         try:
+             if sparse:
++                os.ftruncate(f.fileno(), size)
++            else:
++                self.shell.log.info("Writing %d bytes" % size)
+                 try:
++                    # Prior to version 3.3, Python does not provide fallocate
+                     os.posix_fallocate(f.fileno(), 0, size)
+                 except AttributeError:
+-                    # Prior to version 3.3, Python does not provide fallocate
+-                    os.ftruncate(f.fileno(), size)
+-            else:
+-                self.shell.log.info("Writing %d bytes" % size)
+-                while size > 0:
+-                    write_size = min(size, 1024)
+-                    f.write("\0" * write_size)
+-                    size -= write_size
++                    while size > 0:
++                        write_size = min(size, 1024)
++                        f.write("\0" * write_size)
++                        size -= write_size
+         except (OSError, IOError):
+             os.remove(filename)
+             raise ExecutionError("Could not expand file to %d bytes" % size)
+-- 
+2.28.0
+
diff --git a/SPECS/targetcli.spec b/SPECS/targetcli.spec
index 0afbdf2..89fd561 100644
--- a/SPECS/targetcli.spec
+++ b/SPECS/targetcli.spec
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@ License:        ASL 2.0
 Group:          System Environment/Libraries
 Summary:        An administration shell for storage targets
 Version:        2.1.53
-Release:        1%{?dist}
+Release:        2%{?dist}
 URL:            https://github.com/open-iscsi/%{oname}
 Source:         %{url}/archive/v%{version}/%{oname}-%{version}.tar.gz
 Patch0:         0001-setup.py-add-the-socket-and-service-files-to-the-dat.patch
+Patch1:         0002-fileio-backstore-fix-sparse-file-creation.patch
 BuildArch:      noarch
 BuildRequires:  python3-devel, python3-setuptools
 Requires:       python3-rtslib, target-restore, python3-configshell, python3-six, python3-dbus, python3-gobject-base
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ users will also need to install and use fcoe-utils.
 %prep
 %setup -q -n %{oname}-%{version}
 %patch0 -p1
+%patch1 -p1
 
 %build
 %{__python3} setup.py build
@@ -52,6 +54,9 @@ install -m 644 targetclid.8.gz %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man8/
 %{_usr}/lib/systemd/system/targetclid.socket
 
 %changelog
+* Tue Dec 01 2020 Maurizio Lombardi <mlombard@redhat.com> - 2.1.53-2
+- Fix sparse file creation
+
 * Thu Jun 25 2020 Maurizio Lombardi <mlombard@redhat.com> - 2.1.53-1
 - Update to new upstream version